But the Miami Arena has been gutted in recent days and the building will be demolished by the end of summer, taking with it a small piece of hockey history. And while it may be hard to imagine these days, hockey was actually a hot commodity in Miami for a while…

George Richards at On Frozen Pond remembers the good ol’ days:

Perhaps the best times the old arena ever saw was the Panthers run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996. It’s hard to explain to an outsider the way that hockey team took over this town. The Panthers owned South Florida at that time. A third year team going to the Stanley Cup Finals? You kidding?

About Canucks and Beyond

Alanah McGinley has been blogging hockey since 2003 (with a notable gap in time through 2010, kicking it with new baby Lucy while living knee-deep in chaos while reading "parenting for complete idiots" during every spare minute) sharing opinions, rants and not-so-deep thoughts with anyone who will listen.

In addition to writing Canucks & Beyond and helping manage Kukla's Korner, Alanah was one of the founders and co-hosts of The Crazy Canucks Podcast. She has contributed pieces to FoxSports.com and the New York TimesSlapshot blog, as well as other stray destinations in cyberspace.